Guidance For Providing Safe Drinking Water in Areas of Federal Jurisdiction - Version 1

Preface

The purpose of this document is to give clear guidance to federal civil servants or other responsible authorities whose jobs relate, either directly or indirectly, to ensuring the safety of drinking water on federal lands, in federal facilities and/or in First Nations communities. It is written for employees who make decisions at the policy and management levels, as well as for those who run drinking water systems on a day-to-day basis.

This guidance is applicable to all federal government departments, agencies and responsible authorities operating facilities in areas of federal jurisdiction that provide drinking water to consumers. Consumers in this context include:

• Federal government employees working in Canada, as well as Canadian Coast Guard, Canadian Forces personnel, and Canadian diplomatic mission staff working abroad
• Inmates, staff, and visitors to federal correctional facilities
• Visitors to federal lands and facilities
• Residents of First Nations communities

All such facilities should meet the minimum guidelines set out in this document in order to protect the health of the people they serve. In some cases, a department or responsible authority may choose to meet more stringent objectives than those detailed in this document. This decision is left to the discretion of each department or authority.

It should be noted that the Canada Labour Code and its occupational health and safety regulations cover federal government employees in their location of work, and this document does not supercede it. Additionally, this document does not supercede unique medical and health protection responsibilities for the Canadian Forces established under the National Defence Act.

It is recognized that departments operating unique facilities¹, such as those in remote locations or in locations beyond Canadian borders, may face challenges that prevent them from meeting all the guidance contained in this document in a timely manner. In such cases, these departments are encouraged to strive to meet the guidance to the best of their ability.

¹ Examples of unique facilities/situations include Canadian embassies overseas with water systems that have difficulty meeting Canadian standards of sampling, testing, operator certification, availability of regular training for operators, etc. Other examples are seasonal facilities or water systems used for one-time large group events, special dedicated-use bottling plants (eg: Canadian Forces overseas), large scale domestic humanitarian deployments, emergencies, etc.